“This is an area where there’s still plenty of opportunity,” Lynn Dornblaser, Mintel International’s director of CPG Trend Insight, said yesterday at the Private Label Manufacturer Association’s annual trade show here.

Retailers capitalizing on the trend include Costco for its Kirkland Signature Environmentally Friendly Dish Soap, made with biodegradable cleaning agents and a plant-based formula; Giant Eagle, whose Organic Baked Beans include a statement on pack that the company supports farms with earth-friendly methods; Safeway, Lucerne Cage-Free Eggs; and Pathmark, Essentially You breakfast cereal in a 100% recycled paperboard box. T

he green private-label movement comes at a time when the number of consumers who “always or almost always” buy green tripled to 36% between August 2006 and December 2007, according to a Mintel study.